My heart is Full beyond measure. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting in the Mumbai, India airport after having facilitated our Executive Presence Training to an extraordinarily brave and bright group of Indian leaders. I’m always honored to be in the presence of leaders who are committed to transformational leadership and risk taking. This powerful team set an intention to be “all in” for a transformational leadership experience right from the start: when they voluntarily surrendered their phones; see the actual photo of their phones.

These beautiful, heartful and courageous Indian leaders poignantly reminded me of the fundamental sameness of all human beings:

Everyone yearns for authentic power and confidence.

Fat, thin, young and old…beyond race, nationality, religion, and every conceivable category – each of us yearns to express – unapologetically – our full power and authentic confidence. Each of us aches to stretch our arms out to the sky, and express our biggest selves in order to fulfill the destiny of our being.

And, we can sense it – like a pebble in our shoe – when we’re not aligned our most magnificent selves.

Connection is key.

This Mumbai team (like many teams we work with) created such heartfelt connections with each other! The leader, who happened to be a woman leading a team of powerful men, set a stunning example of holding her power while connecting with each of her team members. The others – all quite impressive leaders in their own right – naturally followed suit. Here you have it: benevolent power inspires and connects.

Connection is key to benevolent power; after all, misuse of power implies depersonalization. That’s why our Executive Presence Training emphasizes not just power for power’s sake, but tools to stand squarely in our power while connecting with others.

It’s true that rekindling our power benefits each individual by improving mood, reducing stress, and creating challenge-approach tendencies; these are big individual benefits. But power is even grander when it inspires positive change and joy in the world; to do this we need connection.

Authenticity is the universal language.

Authenticity is the foundation of true executive presence. Our Mumbai clients learned to lead from their authentic concerns.

Look: We all sense it right off the bat when someone is authentic – or not. The combination of benevolent power + authenticity is unbeatable. Hard to resist. Most of us want to follow a leader who radiates authenticity, especially when it’s combined with powerful dignity. True authenticity inspires and harkens connection.

The premise of our Executive Presence Training and our related management training programs is quite simple. We teach tools that re-ignite authentic power and confidence. What an honor it is to share these transformational leadership development tools with people and teams from all over the globe. Thank you!

We’re all one. Brothers and sisters – let’s do this, together. May all beings remember their full magnificence and benevolent power.